"That is happiness; to be disolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as naturally as sleep." - Willa Cather

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Friday, 12 June 2009

The most beautiful 5000m

We drove over an hour to get from Næstved (our home) to a track in Holbæk. The rain was pouring down on the car on the drive north, as SR explained that he was going to run the 5k of his life that night. He was going to aim 1:18 per lap ( for 12.5 laps). This is a 16:15 5k and, though not a PR, would be the fastest time he had run in 6 or 7 years.

When we arrived at the track, it was raining too hard to dare take the camera out. Though I probably should have. There were sheets and sheets of monsoon-like rain. But it was too cold to be a monsoon. It was 9 Celcius or about 48 Fahrenheit. It was just Denmark in June (I was talking to a guy from Uganda, who ran for our track club, too. He said everyone in the world would move to Denmark if it weren't for weather like this!). The weather phenomenon can actually be called "Return of the Westerlies", but I won't go into detail here.

SR went off to warm up in the most calculated, nearly obsessive-compulsive way. He knew he was in the shape of his life, having done speed work mixed with long runs every other day in the past couple of months and getting his weight down to 64.7 kg.

At the start, the rain was still beating down. There was one guy painfully trying to hold on to SR in the first lap. I should say this was a veterans race (over 30) and SR is only 34, so he tends to win these races. As I watched him race, it was like watching a perfect human. He looked so healthy and strong and fast (the great thing about writing someone else's race report is you can decorate them with the praise they deserve). And gosh darn it, despite the wind and the rain, if he wasn't running every lap in 1 minute and 18 seconds! It was as if he was the only one unaffected by the weather. It was unreal to watch and everyone was cheering in the stands. The wind and rain continued in full force.

And the last lap was exactly like the rest, perhaps slightly faster. He crossed the finish line at perhaps a millisecond under 16:15. I almost cried; I was so proud. He is my husband.

1 comment:

Hello from Rude Skov

Photo by Stine Sophie Winckel

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My name is Tracy. I am a physician scientist from the USA, living with my husband and two young boys in Denmark. I work as a post-doc fellow at Næstved Hospital. I have a scientific interest in vision loss, vision loss during exercise, exercise, running during pregnancy, MAF training as well as nutrition and health for athletes. I also have a love for music, physics, statistics, cycling, yoga, cross-country skiing, bla bla bal.

I was a member of Team USA at the IAU World Championships in Ultra Trail Running in 2013 in Wales. I am now training to run with Team Denmark at the IAU World Championships in Annency, France in May 2015.